Political corruption museum board forms

Former gubernatorial candidate Teachout agrees to join panel

Updated 6:42 am, Friday, March 6, 2015

Democratic candidate for New York Governor Zephyr Teachout, left, makes a campaign stop at the State Education Building on Thursday Aug. 28, 2014 in Albany, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) FARRELL2014YEAR less

Democratic candidate for New York Governor Zephyr Teachout, left, makes a campaign stop at the State Education Building on Thursday Aug. 28, 2014 in Albany, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) ... more

"It's all very exciting. ... Her expertise and her energy will be invaluable to this project," said Bruce Roter, music professor at The College of Saint Rose and the man behind the museum plans.

Roter, who also spearheaded the successful campaign to bring Trader Joe's to the region, worked for Teachout's Democratic primary campaign last year. He said he met her at an event in Albany and later asked her join the board. After assuring her office that her contributions would take up only as much time as she had to spare, he was told that "she's on board."

Teachout, author of the recently released "Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United," has lately called on Hillary Clinton to answer questions about her private email usage during her tenure as secretary of state.

Roter's vision for the museum (which can be found online at www.albanymuseumofpoliticalcorruption.org) includes a "Hall of Graft, Bribery and Kickbacks," a "Three Men in a Room Room" and free admission for kids under 12, "but parents are encouraged to lie about the age of their children."

The Albany Museum of Political Corruption "is in the process of transitioning to become a nonprofit" and is now accepting pledges for future support as opposed to outright donations, Roter said.

He said he also reached out to Jon Stewart's agent, inviting the departing Comedy Central satirist to join the museum's board of directors. "He might just do it, you never know. He called Albany a 'Whitman's Sampler of corruption' — well, he can do something about it."

"How do we build a museum? I've never built one before, have you? It's not something we do every day." Using a symphonic analogy to describe his work for the museum, Roter said: "I'm a music professor, I'm a composer, and I'm not an expert in politics. But I'm a good orchestrator."